Accident

Transportation officials are hoping a new pilot program will help cut down on the number of wrong-way accidents on Interstate-44 in St. Louis.

According to a press release from the Missouri Department of Transportation, there have been 25 crashes on I-44 caused by drivers headed in the wrong direction on the interstate in the last eight years.

Two people were killed and another 91 injured on Missouri’s roads during the Christmas holiday.

The state Highway Patrol investigated 239 crashes between December 21st and Christmas Day, and arrested 130 people for driving while intoxicated. During the Christmas holiday last year, five people were killed and 67 injured, and state police arrested 56 for DWI.

Starting today, motorists in Illinois will see safe driving messages on the state's digital road signs.

The campaign from the Illinois Department of Transportation is an effort to reduce the number of fatal accidents in the state. So far this year, 479 people have died on Illinois roads, compared with 418 by the same time last year.

The name of the driver involved in the accident has been released by the Illinois State Police along with the names of the others injured - with the exception of worker Dennis Beard, who died, as we previously reported. They are as follows:

Eleven students in the Valley R-6 School District ranging in age from 7 to 16 were hurt in the crash Tuesday near Belgrade, about 60 miles southwest of St. Louis. Authorities believe the bus driver was distracted by something on the bus, causing it to slide off the narrow two-lane highway and overturn in a ditch.

Fatalities and drunken driving arrests were up this Christmas season, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

From 6 p.m. Friday until just before midnight on Sunday, state troopers investigated 213 crashes, which included two of the three fatalities and 67 injuries. Fifty-six people were arrested for driving while intoxicated.

Last year, troopers investigated 487 crashes, including one of two fatalities and 122 injuries, and arrested 51 people for impaired driving.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has been treated and released from a hospital after being involved in a traffic accident.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says Nixon was a passenger in a Chevrolet Suburban driven by a patrol trooper that was rear-ended Friday morning in a three-vehicle accident. The crash occurred on U.S. Highway 50 in Jefferson City, just a few blocks south of the Capitol.

It was a safer year for motorists traveling on Missouri roads during the New Year's holiday this year.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol announced today that it has reports of just one fatality on the roads between 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve until 11:59 yesterday. Troopers investigated 157 accidents, which also resulted in 70 injuries, and arrested 90 people who were driving drunk.